#The Whorl Within the Spiral One-Shot Manga Review! » OmniGeekEmpire

After much anticipation, the one shot for Minato called Naruto Gaiden – Uzu no Naka no Tsumujikaze aka Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral has finally dropped, and I have to say it reminded me why I became such a fan of Naruto years ago.

Beautifully illustrated and drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, the manga reminded us why Masashi Kishimoto ruled the shonen genre for almost 15 years. It’s a simple story of a young shinobi wanting to protect what’s important to him, yet it carries so much emotion and depth that it’s insane. All in 55 pages. It added more meaning and depth to Naruto’s signature jutsu, elaborated and expanded more of the Uzumaki’s role in the village, and gave more insight into the cruel reality that Kushina had to deal with as the Jinchuriki. Basically, more lore and more lore are good to me.

However, the art made this one shot a 10/10 for me. My goodness, I have forgotten how much I enjoyed Kishimoto’s art style and his sense of perception. Every panel was drawn exceptionally. I even have a newfound respect for Minato and Kushina as characters. Now, I crave more one-shots of characters that never got their shine, or at least characters that we were told were powerful but we never got to see how they reached that power. Of course, I’m talking about Sasuke’s father, Fugaku Uchiha. A one-shot manga of him would be awesome.

Anyways, I’m glad that Minato won the poll. The manga overall is a solid 10/10, I really don’t have any complaints that I can think of. The characters were written well, the art is beautiful and the pacing was great. Worth the read!